Woodcarving women built Tryon's toy tradition

Upscale, handmade ‘toys with souls’ now sought by collectors

Rick Dunn, who collects toys made in Tryon, shows a rocking horse made in the 1960s.
The toy-making operation in Tryon attracted national attention in the early 20th century, and the toys and carvings from that era are now highly sought-after collectibles.

MIKE DIRKS/TIMES-NEWS

By Gina MaloneFor Halifax Media Group

Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 6:40 p.m.

TRYON, N.C. — Nearly a century ago, two enterprising, artistic women — Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale — set up shop in Tryon. They came down in 1915 from Asheville, where they had operated successful woodworking and weaving businesses for George and Edith Vanderbilt, to open Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers.

Today the toys and carvings designed by them and produced in workshops by local youth are highly sought after by collectors.

“The Tryon toys were the finest made in the United States at that time,” said Michael McCue, who wrote “The Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers: A History 1915-1940.” “They were the Tiffany of toys.”

As such, they attracted national attention. Three first ladies visited the shop, among them Eleanor Roosevelt in 1934, who, it is said, bought toys to put under the White House Christmas tree for her grandchildren. Records indicate that she placed orders on two occasions. Vance and Yale were invited to a White House luncheon in 1935, when they presented Roosevelt with a carved nut bowl.

An article from St. Nicholas magazine in December 1917 describes the toy-making operation, referring to Vance and Yale as “grow’d up fairies,” as it is suggested they were described by the boys ages 11 to 15 who apprenticed in their woodworking shop.

“Such workshops!” the writer goes on to describe. “The walls are windows that frame the eternal blue of the mountains. … No whistle calls the Tryon wood-carvers and toy-makers to the workbench; no clock marks wearisome, lagging hours. … Each boy works for the joy of the work; to see what he can make his hands do in the interest of beauty and utility.”

Vogue magazine, in its 1923 Christmas issue, called the Tryon toys “toys with souls,” with “an air that immediately sets them apart as something unusual.”

Vanderbilt was praised for having discovered the women who “set up this absolutely unique enterprise … to place opportunity at the doors of a most interesting people.”

The “most interesting people” were the local youth, boys mostly, from Tryon and its surrounding countryside. Vance and Yale — after college and arts training in Europe — became interested in teaching people of the mountains skills that might serve them throughout their lives and could be handed down through the generations.

Someday, the St. Nicholas writer predicted, “the enchanting Blue Ridge Mountains will bring forth generations of wood-carvers and toy-makers to rival those of the Tyrol, the mountain regions of Europe that have long thrived in making toys for American children.”

In 1925 Vance and Yale moved operations from two bungalows into the newly built Toy House, which still stands today. With its quaint, European look, it is the sort of cottage one might see illustrated in a children’s storybook. The Asheville Citizen called it a “magical place, a veritable fairyland.”

The Tryon toys were designed with children in mind, thoroughly imagined and brightly hand-painted. The mountain home, as an example of attention to detail, had a cabin, family, animals and supplies, including wash pot, butter churn and trough. Other sets included Noah’s Ark, the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, and Goldilocks and the three bears.

Ironically, however, few local people could afford the toys their neighbors were helping to create. “They were extremely expensive,” McCue said, “because they were all handmade to the highest standards.”

A 1927 letter written by Vance, and now a part of Grovewood Gallery Inc.’s collection at UNC Asheville’s D.H. Ramsey Library, refers to a “train of cars for the little ones” priced at $3.75. At today’s prices, it would fetch nearly $50. The mountain home was, by 1920, selling for $15, the equivalent of more than $170 today.

This is part of the reason, McCue believes, that so many toys are found today in such good condition.

“They were put on shelves and treasured,” he said, “rather than being played with.”

It seems reasonable to suppose, however, that Vance and Yale meant for the toys to be enjoyed. They provided a playground at the workshop so children could try out toys while parents shopped. A 1923 Asheville Citizen article said the “playhouse also will be open for the children of Tryon and community who need such diversion.”

A portion of the shop was set aside as a museum of foreign toys for children to see. And, at Christmastime, as recounted in Susan and Hal Mathers’ “Tryon Toymakers and Woodcarvers 1915-1932,” a creche was displayed. It was, the authors said, “an exquisite creche, with Nativity-scene figures that had been carved in Europe.” At the invitation of Vance and Yale, children came “on foot and in busloads” to see it.

By all accounts and from existing records, the business seems to have thrived — especially at Christmas — throughout the 1920s. When the Depression hit, however, sales fell. The women, both in their mid-60s by that time, relinquished management in 1936, established the Tryon Craft School, then took the business back again in 1939.

Ownership changes

In 1949 when Moss and Maybelle Guilbert bought the Toy House, the women were eager to help. The Guilberts’ daughter, Anne Peeples, in 1989 wrote a remembrance of her parents’ ownership, when the business name was changed to Tryon Toymakers. Vance and Yale were, she said, “delighted to have the business come alive again. They hunted up old toy patterns, gave them all sorts of advice and a complete set of carving tools.”

The Guilberts offered more than 50 wooden toys and more than 100 Christmas ornaments. When her mother traveled by train to Baltimore in 1956 for brain surgery, Peeples remembers, she brought with her a large piece of plywood with Christmas ornament patterns traced on it for her daughter to finish painting.

One of her father’s most popular creations was the village-in-a-suitcase that opened “flat to reveal roads, a tiny pond, a railroad track and all the houses, people, trees, animals, fences and rolling stock needed to occupy a child indefinitely.”

Moss Guilbert died in 1977, and the business was sold once more, existing into the 1990s before ceasing operations. With each owner, collector Rick Dunn of Tryon said, there was a “signature look” to the toys.

Efforts were made in 2010 to start a privately owned museum in the picturesque Toy House; however, the project has since stalled. Dunn said he would love to see a museum in operation to educate the public about the history of the Toy Makers and provide housing for a collection of the toys which, he said, are still around but have become harder to find in recent years.

The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, N.C., has an exhibit, and the Polk County Historical Museum in Columbus, N.C., has a small display of mostly woodcarvings and a tiny wooden horse from 1935. These small horses with wheels, sold as toys then, were designed by Vance and were the prototype for the large horse, Morris, that stands at the center of Tryon to this day.

<p>TRYON, N.C. — Nearly a century ago, two enterprising, artistic women — Eleanor Vance and Charlotte Yale — set up shop in Tryon. They came down in 1915 from Asheville, where they had operated successful woodworking and weaving businesses for George and Edith Vanderbilt, to open Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers.</p><p>Today the toys and carvings designed by them and produced in workshops by local youth are highly sought after by collectors.</p><p>“The Tryon toys were the finest made in the United States at that time,” said Michael McCue, who wrote “The Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers: A History 1915-1940.” “They were the Tiffany of toys.”</p><p>As such, they attracted national attention. Three first ladies visited the shop, among them Eleanor Roosevelt in 1934, who, it is said, bought toys to put under the White House Christmas tree for her grandchildren. Records indicate that she placed orders on two occasions. Vance and Yale were invited to a White House luncheon in 1935, when they presented Roosevelt with a carved nut bowl.</p><p>An article from St. Nicholas magazine in December 1917 describes the toy-making operation, referring to Vance and Yale as “grow'd up fairies,” as it is suggested they were described by the boys ages 11 to 15 who apprenticed in their woodworking shop.</p><p>“Such workshops!” the writer goes on to describe. “The walls are windows that frame the eternal blue of the mountains. … No whistle calls the Tryon wood-carvers and toy-makers to the workbench; no clock marks wearisome, lagging hours. … Each boy works for the joy of the work; to see what he can make his hands do in the interest of beauty and utility.”</p><p>Vogue magazine, in its 1923 Christmas issue, called the Tryon toys “toys with souls,” with “an air that immediately sets them apart as something unusual.”</p><p>Vanderbilt was praised for having discovered the women who “set up this absolutely unique enterprise … to place opportunity at the doors of a most interesting people.”</p><p>The “most interesting people” were the local youth, boys mostly, from Tryon and its surrounding countryside. Vance and Yale — after college and arts training in Europe — became interested in teaching people of the mountains skills that might serve them throughout their lives and could be handed down through the generations.</p><p>Someday, the St. Nicholas writer predicted, “the enchanting Blue Ridge Mountains will bring forth generations of wood-carvers and toy-makers to rival those of the Tyrol, the mountain regions of Europe that have long thrived in making toys for American children.”</p><p>In 1925 Vance and Yale moved operations from two bungalows into the newly built Toy House, which still stands today. With its quaint, European look, it is the sort of cottage one might see illustrated in a children's storybook. The Asheville Citizen called it a “magical place, a veritable fairyland.”</p><p>The Tryon toys were designed with children in mind, thoroughly imagined and brightly hand-painted. The mountain home, as an example of attention to detail, had a cabin, family, animals and supplies, including wash pot, butter churn and trough. Other sets included Noah's Ark, the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, and Goldilocks and the three bears.</p><p>Ironically, however, few local people could afford the toys their neighbors were helping to create. “They were extremely expensive,” McCue said, “because they were all handmade to the highest standards.”</p><p>A 1927 letter written by Vance, and now a part of Grovewood Gallery Inc.'s collection at UNC Asheville's D.H. Ramsey Library, refers to a “train of cars for the little ones” priced at $3.75. At today's prices, it would fetch nearly $50. The mountain home was, by 1920, selling for $15, the equivalent of more than $170 today.</p><p>This is part of the reason, McCue believes, that so many toys are found today in such good condition.</p><p>“They were put on shelves and treasured,” he said, “rather than being played with.”</p><p>It seems reasonable to suppose, however, that Vance and Yale meant for the toys to be enjoyed. They provided a playground at the workshop so children could try out toys while parents shopped. A 1923 Asheville Citizen article said the “playhouse also will be open for the children of Tryon and community who need such diversion.”</p><p>A portion of the shop was set aside as a museum of foreign toys for children to see. And, at Christmastime, as recounted in Susan and Hal Mathers' “Tryon Toymakers and Woodcarvers 1915-1932,” a creche was displayed. It was, the authors said, “an exquisite creche, with Nativity-scene figures that had been carved in Europe.” At the invitation of Vance and Yale, children came “on foot and in busloads” to see it.</p><p>By all accounts and from existing records, the business seems to have thrived — especially at Christmas — throughout the 1920s. When the Depression hit, however, sales fell. The women, both in their mid-60s by that time, relinquished management in 1936, established the Tryon Craft School, then took the business back again in 1939.</p><h3>Ownership changes</h3>
<p>In 1949 when Moss and Maybelle Guilbert bought the Toy House, the women were eager to help. The Guilberts' daughter, Anne Peeples, in 1989 wrote a remembrance of her parents' ownership, when the business name was changed to Tryon Toymakers. Vance and Yale were, she said, “delighted to have the business come alive again. They hunted up old toy patterns, gave them all sorts of advice and a complete set of carving tools.”</p><p>The Guilberts offered more than 50 wooden toys and more than 100 Christmas ornaments. When her mother traveled by train to Baltimore in 1956 for brain surgery, Peeples remembers, she brought with her a large piece of plywood with Christmas ornament patterns traced on it for her daughter to finish painting.</p><p>One of her father's most popular creations was the village-in-a-suitcase that opened “flat to reveal roads, a tiny pond, a railroad track and all the houses, people, trees, animals, fences and rolling stock needed to occupy a child indefinitely.”</p><p>Moss Guilbert died in 1977, and the business was sold once more, existing into the 1990s before ceasing operations. With each owner, collector Rick Dunn of Tryon said, there was a “signature look” to the toys.</p><p>Efforts were made in 2010 to start a privately owned museum in the picturesque Toy House; however, the project has since stalled. Dunn said he would love to see a museum in operation to educate the public about the history of the Toy Makers and provide housing for a collection of the toys which, he said, are still around but have become harder to find in recent years.</p><p>The N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, N.C., has an exhibit, and the Polk County Historical Museum in Columbus, N.C., has a small display of mostly woodcarvings and a tiny wooden horse from 1935. These small horses with wheels, sold as toys then, were designed by Vance and were the prototype for the large horse, Morris, that stands at the center of Tryon to this day.</p>